Single Day Cultural Garden Experience Trip within Vancouver

TRIP INFORMATION23 km, about 1 hour of driving time.Allow yourself the entire day to see it all.

Vancouver was awarded the Canadian Garden Council’s 2014 Garden destination of the year for good reason! Vancouver's plays host to an amazing assortment of Gardens including some amazing cultural gems.

Start your experience with the Nitobe Memorial Garden on the UBC campus. Considered one of the top 5 Japanese Gardens outside of Japan this small garden hosted a visit by the emperor of Japan in 2009 (visit time 1 hour).

Next, stroll over to the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), which is conveniently just across the street. MOA is renowned for its displays of world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nation band governments of the Pacific Northwest (visit time 2.5 hours).

Then head downtown to take in the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (visit time - 1 hour). Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden is the first, full-scale Classical Chinese Garden built outside China. All components of the Garden were carefully selected from nature or hand-built by skilled artisans in China.

While in Chinatown you can savour a modern Chinese meal at the Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie or go for a more traditional offering at one of the many great restaurants in Chinatown, or walk a few blocks over to Gastown which also features plenty of eating options.

Head over the Bill Reid Gallery featuring the work of Bill Reid and other local First Nations artists (1 hour).

Then cap off your cultural tour of Vancouver by exploring Stanley Park to take in the ”nine o’clock gun” cannon firing in the city’s 1001-acre public park. The park is surrounded by the seawall pathway and contains forested trails, the Vancouver Aquarium, great ocean lookouts and a number of First Nations art pieces including totem poles (visit time: a whole day could be spent touring Stanley Park, but you can see it all in an hour by car).